Northwest entrance to Hanscom Park

Black and white photograph (19.5 x 15.5 cm.) of a cannon barrel, probably from the Civil War, mounted on a cement pedestal near the northwest entrance to Hanscom Park in Omaha, Nebraska. A road circles it with grass and trees in the background. The reverse side of the image has typed on the back: Northwest Entrance to Hanscom Park.

Hanscom Park is one of the oldest parks in Omaha. In October 1872, Andrew J. Hanscom and James Megeath donated a 50-acre tract of land to the City of Omaha on the understanding that it would be turned into a public park. According to historians Savage & Bell: No charge was made for the property, but the gift was upon condition that the city expend in improving it the sum of three thousand dollars in 1873, four thousand dollars each year for the three years following, five thousand in 1877, and the same amount in 1878; to forever keep the property in good order, and to grade and keep in good repair the streets by which the tract was bounded (Savage & Bell, p. 437). The land donated by Hanscom and Megeath was located in what was then the extreme southwestern part of Omaha, and is currently bordered by Woolworth Avenue on the north, Park Avenue on the east, Ed Creighton Avenue on the south, and 32nd Avenue on the west. The park established there was named after Hanscom. 1889 brought considerable changes to the park when noted landscape architect H.W.S. Cleveland was hired to create a more natural look for it. In 1898, a Park Commissioners' report stated that: Two lakes, a cascade, extensive flower beds, two and one-half miles of macadamized roadway, fountains and a magnificent growth of forest trees make this the only finished park in the city (City of Omaha Planning Dept., p. 26). Sources: Savage, James Woodruff & John Bell. History of the City of Omaha. Chicago: Munsell & Co., 1894, p. 437; City of Omaha Planning Dept. Omaha's Historic Park and Boulevard System. March 1992, p. 26.